Kathy Canada

Kathy Canada (1947? - ) was an heiress to the Eli Lilly fortune and a prominent Bloomington philanthropist.

Canada was the daughter of Evan Noyes, the nephew of Lilly's founder. Divorced from her first husband, Canada moved to Bloomington in 1967, where she met and married Larry Canada. He was the owner of a store on Kirkwood Avenue called the Black Market, which was firebombed in 1968 at the height of the Vietnam War protests.

The next year, Canada bought 400 acres in rural northeastern Brown County and established the Kneadmore Commune, an alternative living community in the hills off Plum Creek Road. At one point, more than 100 people lived there.

A few years later she was quoted on the front page of a local newspaper accusing the FBI of following and harassing her.

In 1975 Canada donated the Black Market property to the city on condition that it be made into a park, and it became Peoples Park.

Later, Kathy Canada married Larry's brother Tom Canada, and they had two sons. In 1980 they built a spectacular house on Snoddy Road that was used as a fundraiser for the Waldron Arts Center several times. Canada worked as the education director for the center from 1992 to 1995 as well as volunteering at WFHB.

Later the Canadas fell on financial hard times. Kathy Canada moved to Minneapolis, and the house stood vacant for many years.